OVERVIEW

 History

                        The department of statistics at Maharaja’s college was born in 1975 when two teaching positions of mathematics were converted into the subject. At the beginning of the next academic year 1976-77, Prof. B. Devadas and Prof. K. J. Justin George Francis were appointed as lecturers in statistics.  During the period from its modest inception to 1987, teachers of statistics formed an adjunct to the department of mathematics. It was in the latter year that the department came of age and emerged as a discipline on its own.  The department started offering postgraduate programme in 1995 during the tenure of Sri K. J. Justin George Francis as the head. At the time T. M. Marykutty and Dr. S. Santhosh were the rest of the faculty. In the same academic year, five more posts were sanctioned, taking the number of teachers to eight.  Sri K. A. Rajeevan Pillai, Smt. R. Thankam, Sri T. V. Francy and Dr. N. Hitha were the new members.  In June 1998, Prof. M. Sreekumar joined the department as the head. In the subsequent years it was headed by  Prof. R. Thankam, Dr. T. V. Francy, Dr. N. Hitha and Dr. K.V. Jayamol.  Now the Dr James Kurian is at the helm.

          Thanks to the concerted and consistent efforts put in by teachers, students and well- wishers, the department has scaled heights exemplarily and systematically.  In recognition of the overall excellence it had achieved, the department was elevated to the status of a research centre in 2019 with Dr. Angel Mathew and Dr. Priya P. Menon as research supervisors.

            The department is functioning in a separate block with a well-equipped computer lab and library. The lab consists of 30 computers with Wi-Fi and high speed internet connectivity. We own licensed software like SPSS and MATLAB . Postgraduate students do their practical sessions using SPSS, SAS, MATLAB, R and Excel.

          The library has a collection of about 5000 books, a few Journals and e-journals. Prominent journals are Sankhya, Statistical Methods, Journal of Indian Society of Agriculture and Journal of Science Education. The library is decorated with a portrait gallery of eminent mathematicians and statisticians donated by Prof. Justin George Francis and the students of 4th  M.Sc. batch.   Previous question papers of Indian Statistical Service (I.S.S) are available in the department;   students can carry out their references and hold discussions using the material.  Right from the inception of its postgraduate programme, the department has been successful in attracting bright students from far and wide. We have also succeeded in producing excellent results for M.Sc.  In order to instil an international outlook, inquisitive mind-set and refined analytical tools, the department regularly conducts enrichment programmes.

          It is gratifying to note that many of our alumni and alumnae have landed gainful employment in both private and government sectors.  Enrichment Lecture Series, seminars, workshops, colloquia and Statistics Club enhance the academic ambience of the department and catalyse the pursuit of knowledge. That our teachers are perseverant students and researchers too is evidenced by the number of papers they have published in peer-reviewed refereed journals of fame and repute. 

Programmes offered

         The department of statistics is committed to advancing knowledge and learning through teaching and research in the core and allied areas. It offers a full-time M.Sc. programme and research leading to the degree of Ph.D.  In addition, it also offers complementary and core courses to other graduate and postgraduate programmes.   

Endowments

             On the event of the retirement of Prof. Justin George Francis, the department constituted the ‘Prof. Justin George Endowment Lecture’ which is conducted annually. Prof. M. Sreekumar Endowment Prize for the top scorer in the postgraduate programme was constituted in 2005.  Since 2006, Prof T. M. Marykutty Endowment Prize is awarded to the top scorer of the first semester examination of the same programme.  Prof. R Thankam endowment price was constituted in 2014. 

Student Achievements

         Twenty-five batches of students have emerged with flying colours with the pass percentage of hundred almost every year. Jayasree M.G., Mini P. A., Subha P. T., Joseph Justin Rebello, Ajith Kumar N and Meera A.P. are among the students who have joined I.S.S.  The department has also produced fifteen college teachers, six I.S.S. topers, two Reserve Bank of India (statistics) officers and many other private and government employees so far. These days many are getting employed in banks and software firms.

DETAILS OF EXISTING FACULTY

DETAILS OF FORMER FACULTY

DETAILS OF VARIOUS RESEARCH PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN BY THE FACULTY MEMBER

Milestones

Established in 1975

Independent department in 1987

Postgraduate programme in 1995

Research department in 2019

Seminars and Workshops in the Last Five Years

          The department makes it a point to host 2-3 seminars and workshops on relevant and emerging topics/areas every academic year. Apart from these, the department conducted many academic workshops and brainstorming sessions in connection with the syllabus restructuring and implementation of the postgraduate in Mahatma Gandhi University and many other universities.

          Many eminent personalities from different universities have visited the department during the last five years. On 5 March 2015, the department conducted a one-day international seminar on recent developments in statistical theory. Prof. Malay Ghosh, distinguished  professor from the department of statistics at the University of Florida and Prof. A.M. Mathai, McGill University, Canada, delivered lectures. An international seminar titled ' Recent Developments in Statistics' was conducted in December 2015 and another  in December 2017. Prof. J. P Fine, the University of North Carolina, U.S.A. and Dr. Sudheesh Kumar Kattumannil, Indian Statistical Institute, Chennai, were the resource persons. In January 2018, the department conducted another international seminar named ‘Stochastic Orders-Characterizations and Sufficient Conditions'. Dr. Felix Belzuence, department of statistics and operations research, Murcia, Spain delivered lectures. Dr. William Meeker , Professor of Iowa State university U.S.A. delivered a lecture in the year  2019.